Article: Platinum With One Airline Vs Gold With Two: Which Is Better?

[AFF Editor]

Canonical URL

https://www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au/platinum-one-vs-gold-two-airlines/

Platinum With One Airline Vs Gold With Two: Which Is Better? is an article written by the AFF editorial team:

Platinum With One Airline Vs Gold With Two: Which Is Better?

Instead of holding Platinum status with either Qantas or Virgin Australia, could it make better sense to get Gold status with both airlines for a similar amount of flying (and spend)?

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

You can leave a comment or discuss this topic below.

 

[clifford]

Well, for me, under the current circumstances, Platinum with QF would be far superior to Gold with both.

Apart from the fact that VA have made attaining Platinum far too expensive for what is offered, my lifetime Star Gold with UA provides lounge access for VA in any case.

I do think VA have shot themselves in the foot with their Velocity changes, especially as they refuse to join an alliance and have a random collection of agreements with various airlines, which can and do change at a moment's notice.

 

[RooFlyer]

Given that choice, my choice would be Gold with both. Else you handcuff yourself to the Plat carrier and probably make choices, or have to make choices that weren't the best. If its QF Plat, that means paying more. If its VA Plat, that means more limited international benefits therefore more restricted 'choices'.

 

[elanshin]

I'd say with QF the real advantages are Plat releases and first lounges.

No other alliance offers that and you'd only get the "first" lounge of the airline itself not the network. Whether those 2 things are enough to justify QF plat over 2 golds is up to your personal flying.

I can definitely make QF plat releases do some heavy lifting and have a currently strong QF points earn (can't earn anywhere near as much on other programs due to business spend opportunities). So QF plat made more sense for me whilst I was using QF Plat and VA Gold. Ive now left VA drop to silver.

Also would've maintained skyteam if the Delta error was around, but alas they patched that up last year.

 

[dajop]

For some it might be best to have Platinum on Qatar airlines, rather than gold on both QF and VA.

 

[kpc]

No longer bother with Va status.i get lounge access via *A gold with Aeeroplan.
QF plat gives me F lounge access esp at Syd and OW network, award releases, Checkin at Qf F desk at Syd

 

[craney]

Splitting loyalty to go for gold at both doubles the time to achieve Lifetime Gold at QF.

 

[mviy]

I stuck to just flying QF partly because I prefer flying the airline and partly because Virgin used to not offer any lifetime status. Once I reach QF LTG, I may reevaluate, but I probably wouldn’t fly enough on Virgin or its partners to get Gold on that.

 

[DBX Dubai]

Hi, Why would you be a member of a airline loyalty club, so to speak? What are the benefits?
Expensive redemption? With co payments of $2000-$4000. A wishful thinking upgrade?
My idea is why would stick to airline company. I fly business or First, with an airline who has got great service, is reliable, and the price is acceptable. Why would I pay more? Just to be a member of an airline club. I get all these benefits, maybe no expensive loyalty redemption.
Lets be honest, about 10 years ago the loyalty programs of airlines actually was acceptable, now it is just to sit in the lounge and sit in the aircraft at the back. the real winner is who pays for his airfare and sits at the front.

 

[elanshin]

Hi, Why would you be a member of a airline loyalty club, so to speak? What are the benefits?
Expensive redemption? With co payments of $2000-$4000. A wishful thinking upgrade?
My idea is why would stick to airline company. I fly business or First, with an airline who has got great service, is reliable, and the price is acceptable. Why would I pay more? Just to be a member of an airline club. I get all these benefits, maybe no expensive loyalty redemption.
Lets be honest, about 10 years ago the loyalty programs of airlines actually was acceptable, now it is just to sit in the lounge and sit in the aircraft at the back. the real winner is who pays for his airfare and sits at the front.

A by product of the flying in the first place?

If you're getting almost gold/plat just doing your normal business, a bit of minor tweaking to reach the status tier would be reasonable value.

Eg if you're already doing significant flying domestically for work.

 

[RooFlyer]

Hi, Why would you be a member of a airline loyalty club, so to speak? What are the benefits?
Expensive redemption? With co payments of $2000-$4000. A wishful thinking upgrade?
My idea is why would stick to airline company. I fly business or First, with an airline who has got great service, is reliable, and the price is acceptable. Why would I pay more? Just to be a member of an airline club. I get all these benefits, maybe no expensive loyalty redemption.
Lets be honest, about 10 years ago the loyalty programs of airlines actually was acceptable, now it is just to sit in the lounge and sit in the aircraft at the back. the real winner is who pays for his airfare and sits at the front.

Welcome to AFF @DBX Dubai . I totally agree with you that one should not be ‘loyal’ to any airline or hotel chain for that matter. I’ve posted that frequently here before.

However, I am a member of about six airline frequent flyer schemes. If you fly with an airline frequently, you accumulate points and probably status without even trying or paying more and they are worth something. I also fly at least business internationally but domestically I will do economies sometimes. It all depends on the price.

Copayments of $2000 to $4000 possibly only with Emirates . Stick around and you can learn how to avoid copayments flying on many Airlines that charge them.

If one’s budget is unlimited then sure just fly F or J and you have no worries. However, most of us are not in that category and I for instance use my accrued FF program points to fly to an Asian port and then get a revenue business fare very cheaply to Europe. Or I might pay for business across the Pacific and upgrade to first with points.

I can buy miles on Air Canada and fly business long haul for about half or 2/3 of the cash price. Why wouldn’t I do that?

I agree the frequent-flier programs are not what they used to but they are certainly benefits and substantial cost savings, if you are a member and put your number in your booking which you’re going to fly anyway.

I too have posted that “I’m over lounges“ but they do have their uses especially if you can sit in the first class lounge rather than the terminal for no extra effort other than having flown a lot the previous year.

 

[clifford]

If its QF Plat, that means paying more.

I'm not sure how you have come to that conclusion. I don't think I am paying more, but perhaps you could explain why I am.

 

[RooFlyer]

I'm not sure how you have come to that conclusion. I don't think I am paying more, but perhaps you could explain why I am.

Not paying more because you are Plat, but if you are Plat you are more likely keep in the Qantas eco system, and hence pay more. I gather you aren't suggesting that Qantas fares aren't, on average, more than Virgin?

 

[Restless]

I was VA plat & QF gold, but now gold in both.
I will be letting VA drop as I believe the VA gold/plat benefits to not now be worth the spend. Their recent FF changes have burnt my loyalty I'm afraid

 

[jase05]

I have got QR Platinum so best of both worlds.
For domestic flights on QF which I rarely fly for leisure I credit them to BA and for Virgin domestic flights I’ve give up on Velocity and credit them to VS which helps to get me SkyTeam Elite Plus

 

[Restless]

I have got QR Platinum so best of both worlds.
For domestic flights on QF which I rarely fly for leisure I credit them to BA and for Virgin domestic flights I’ve give up on Velocity and credit them to VS which helps to get me SkyTeam Elite Plus

Out of curiosity, when flying to Europe, what's your pecking order for choice of airlines (to help you maintain QR status)?

 

[jase05]

Out of curiosity, when flying to Europe, what's your pecking order for choice of airlines (to help you maintain QR status)?

You need to earn 20% from QR flights so obviously QR is our preference and we prefer to fly from Asia to the ME or Europe with them. With WY in the mix now they will be an option and we have used CX to fly to Europe but that was a while back.